Supporter.



C. F. BENNETT.

SUPPORTER.

APPLlcAnoN FILED Aus.2e, |915.

1,169,455, Patented an. 25, 1916.

CHAR-LES F. BENNETT, OF

in sift s CHECAGO, LLFQS, ASSGNCR TG SHJP E SMTl-, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOES, A CORORATQN SPPORTER.

To @ZZ Awhom t may concern.' Y

Be it known that l, Crninnns l?. BENNETT, a citizen of tl e United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented a new and useful lmprovemcnt in Supporters, of which the following is a specification.

g v invention relates to certain new and useiul improvements in supporters and is fully described and explained in the specication and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which 1- AFigure l is a perspective view of my improved supporter, and Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2 of Fig. l.

Referring to the drawings, 3 is an elastic belt to the front of which is attached a pouch fl terminating in thigh circ-lets T he pouch is preferably made in the manner set forth in my expired Patent No. 45945673, that is, of two separate pieces of material attached together in the front, so that the pouch is of twice the width of the material, crossed over at the bottom to form a square bottom for the pouch and continued to form the thigh circlets. its far as the present invention is concerned, however, this construction of the pouch is not essential as other modes of construction might be adopted and the material might be varied considerably. It is common practice for instance to make the pouches of some supporters of linen or cotton mesh, which is relatively inelastic, and this can be done, as far as the present invention is concerned, although the preferred construction is that illustrated, where the pouch and thigh circlets are made of the same material and are therefore, of course, elastic throughout.

My present construction differs from that of my arior patent in that the thigh-circlets, instead of being attached to the rear of the belt as therein specilied, are attached to the belt in line with the upper parts of the lateral edges of the pouch. rlhis produces a number of advantages of operation which it has heretofore been impossible to secure. lt was found in the use of the jock strap of my prior patent referred to, that it was desirable gradually to move the thigh circlets nearer to the front. rlhis resulted in a better fit, because the upper ends of the thigh circlets pull backward on the front of the belt, holding the pouch more snugly against the body. lt was found also, however, that Specification of Letters .'tatent.

Serial No. 47,517.

as the thigh circlets were brought forward and approached the edges of the pouch, the strain was concentrated upon a small part of the belt w iicli very quickly gave out. l

-have tried supporters made in accordance with my prior patent where the thigh circlets were moved forward to about an inch on cach side of the pouch and the devices so made proved entirely unsatisfactory because the elastic belt for the space of one inch on the two sides of the pouch, that is, in the space between the ends of the thigh circlets and the pouch, quickly lost its elasticity and was destroyed. After many eX- periments it was found that the thigh circlets could not moved farther forward than about three inches from theV two sides of the pouch and this became the commercial form. li have discovered, however, that by the present construction in which the thigh circlets are secured directly to the lateral edges of the pouch, all the diiculties referred to are met and the device is peculiarly satisfactory. The pouch is held tightly against the body, not only by the elastic pull of the belt, but by the pull of the thigh circlets. This results also in making the entire belt except the portion crossed by the pouch elastic, whereas, in the prior construction, the lower edge of the belt was rendered inelastic in tha'u part of its lower edge to which the thigh circlets were attached, that is, in practice about three inches of the lower margin of the belt on each si de was inelastic and, of course, that part of the belt lying under and attached to the pouch was in elastic. ln other words out of the belt of about two feet in circumference nearly half was inelastic along its lower edge, and this threw the great strain upon the remaining part of the belt causing it quite quickly to disintegrate. ln the present device if the belt be two feet in circumference, 1S inches of it is elastic. Furthermore, by this construction the thigh Circlet-s are more widely separated, thereby more accurately fitting into the gluteal grooves of the wearer and leaving a wider space at the rear which is desirable for sanitary reasons.

l realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of the construction herein shown, and l do not intend to limit myself thereto, except as pointed out in the following claim, in which it is my intention to claim all the novelty inherent in the de- Vice as broadly as is permitted by the state of the art.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A supporter comprising' an elastic belt of such width and strength as to exert material pressure on the abdomen of the wearer, a pouch having its upper end crossing the belt and secured thereto, whereby the portion of the belt crossed by the pouch is rendered substantially inelastic, a pair of elastic thigh circlets secured at one end to the lower end of the pouch and extending rearwardly,

upwardly and forwardly therefrom and attached at their other ends to the inelastic portion of the belt, said elastic thigh circlets being of such width and strength as Ato add a material pressure to the inelastic portion of the belt on the abdomen of the wearer.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand this 23rd day of August, 1915.

CHARLES E BENNETT.

In presence of two subscribing witnesses:

D. C. THoRsEN, L. V. HIGGINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

